I'd vote for her. I'd also vote for Bernie again, if he ran again. I don't care about his age, all that would matter is he got into office, and established a cabinet, and had a good Vice President to take over.
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That’s my girl.
I have been thinking about the problem with politicians in general: they want to climb, they want positions of power and probably also money. But do they want to make policy even more? As in, for the people? Maybe in the beginning, but at some point, it seems, they all made a deal with the devil.
I hope what she said is an answer to such thoughts.
Speechless to old white redneck fucksticks perhaps. To the rest of us she sounds like a goddam American patriot who has the good of THIS fucking country in her heart.
I 100% get not committing to run right now, it would be stupid to do so.
"In this op-ed that Bezos paid for in The Washington Post, there was a veiled threat — it was the elite saying if you want this job, you just stepped out of line," said Ocasio-Cortez. "What’s funny about that is they assume my ambition is positional. They assume my ambition is a title or a seat. My ambition is way bigger than that. My ambition is to change this country. Presidents come and go, elected officials come and go, single payer healthcare is forever."
But I sure as fuck hope she realizes becoming president is our best shot at that.
Shed drive down ballot races like Obama did, but isn't as cocky and obsessed with personal power to ignore the DNC after winning like Obama did. Shed name a progressive chair.
Bringing in a wave of progressives and putting the party firmly on the progressive side of the divide is absolutely the biggest thing she (or anyone) can do to get us single payer healthcare.
So like I said, hopefully she's planning to run, just smart enough to not say it yet.
I'm not telling her what to do, she's clearly better at this stuff than I'll ever be
This headline makes me want to kick someone’s trashcan.
Plus the article itself is primarily dramatic fluff writing, followed by something I loathe: quotations from social media reactions. I'd love for anyone that does like them to share why because I cannot see the utility.
Sadly, I fear the Dems keep her around for the same reason they keep Bernie.
To keep them reigned in so they don't become a threat to the old money powers. The last thing the Dems want is for them to splinter off into a viable third party, gain traction and actually make life better for the poor.
Keep your friends close and all that...
I don’t even know if that’s a thought. This country has little hope of a third party without radical changes to how we vote.
But keeping loud progressives in the party where they can be seen and heard is good to keep progressive voters engaged. Note that Bernie, AOC, and the more outspoken libs are given more airtime come election years whereas they only get minor sporadic coverage the rest of the time. So the Dems attract the progressives by amplifying convenient voices when it suits them, but otherwise progressive policy is essentially nullified by neo-lib willful failure to block shitty conservative policy.
"single payer healthcare is forever"
The chronically underfunded NHS creaks as I weep.
I don't disagree with her point though. In the UK, after decades of neoliberalism reigning supreme, I am often extremely depressed at how it's changed things culturally. I was born in the 90s, so all of my life, I have seen the people who are struggling most scrutinised ever closer, and the state becomes more and more like a business.
If the NHS didn't already exist, I can't fathom there being political will to implement it right now. There would be far too much outcry over people "reaping rewards from the system despite not contributing to it". There was that kind of opposition when the NHS was founded too, but far less of it. It was a different world. As I understand it, the Reagan and Thatcher era of politics were a big part of what caused things to change.
Learning the history helps ground me. A political philosopher I read a bunch of last year who influenced me greatly was Frederic Jameson, who advocated that we should "always historicise", because connecting to our history is a great tool in resisting the cultural logic of late stage capitalism.
Or to put it a different way: the society we live in has a way of making itself seem eternal and immutable, but things have not always been this way, and they need not always remain this way. If AOC spearheaded a campaign that led to single payer healthcare, but the scheme was later repealed, that achievement would still last forever, in that it could serve as a template for those in future.
I don't know if any of this makes sense. I'm just depressed and trying to clutch at hope. I'd say I don't know if it's working, but hey, I'm still alive — that's something. I should probably get some sleep though
Insomnia, eh?
Yeah, the NHS is horribly underfunded - but I think it's still one of very few things the UK can still be proud of. I think most people wouldn't mind paying a little more tax, if it were specifically ringfenced for the NHS. Yeah, I doubt it would be created today, and it's constantly fighting creeping privatisation but it still has a great deal of public support. And desperate as services are these days, I'm still alive because of it.
The greatest lie ever told about the NHS is that we need to pay more tax to fund it properly.
We don't.
We need to unwind a web of outsourcing agreements that siphon money away from care provision and into the pockets of the 1%.
There's enough money if you remove the grift
Edit typo
It's really great to see one of our politicians answer questions as if they were actually a public servant concerned with the good of the country. I mean, obviously.
But it's equally tragic how unique it is for a politician to answer like that, and how many people in her own party (in addition to 99% of Republicans) will assume it is BS political talking points to suggest that somebody is serving a high profile political position for any reason other than blind personal ambition.
Man, AOC vs Trump 2024 would have been soooo epic.
Even if she lost, still better to put a good foot forward than what they ended up doing
Something like 75% of American voters want universal health care, 90% of Democrat voters want it, and over 50% of Independents.
(these are approximations there are many polls pick your favorite)
Unfortunately, in the USA it's "donations" that control legislation, cash is king. Our reps have two choices... do what Americans want (healthcare, higher wages and benefits, less bombs), or do what makes them and their entire family filthy rich.
It's hard to resist the allure of money, they won't give it up willingly. Landing leadership positions means millions of dollars a year, cushy political appointments (like your husband/wife landing an abassadorship to Bermuda), and other fantastic benefits, it's blatant.
Thanks, Raw Story, for the textbook clickbait. What a shit outlet.
I'd vote for John Stewart if I was American. Look up how he supported the 911 firemen. He is the right mix of popular to be a viable candidate and obviously principled enough to be a second Obama.
She is right it’s not the title important and right now Dems needs someone that would unify the party. Trump won not because he had much more votes than 2020, but because Harris had 6 million votes less than 2020
I am already seeing a lot of Dems saying again they will not vote by X or Y… MAGA is voting doesn’t matter what
So the party will need someone that unifies more the party… but it seems unlikely
Im pretty sure that is a "no, not this time" answer.
I think she knows where she can do the most good, and survive to do the most good.
I like AOC but i dont think she is ready for the international political scene. I think she knows it as well. Domestic issues need her more, which happens in Congress.
And Jon Stewart, well i like him too but ... another celebrity/actor president? Really?
At this point I don't care. Trump set the bar so low that a colony of fermenting yeast would do a better job.
Let alone someone with actual good intentions.
In the world of politics governed by nepotism greed and optics, I am absolutely positive that the political world is anything but speechless about this particular statement.
"And a waitress will lead them... "
Better her than Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio by miles. If we are picking teams, AOC all the way.
I already have an AOC 2028 shirt my maga fil got it for me, I'm not quite sure he expected me to like it as much as I do.
Baby accounts in here chirping about Jon Stewart and AOC running for president after killing Reddit. Getting prepared for the primary. AstroTurf moving over here.
And some "lower" positions can have much larger sweeping effects.
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